


The Family We Made

by Lopithecus



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: 3x15, Coda, Getting Together, I don't know, M/M, eddie begins, kind of?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:01:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23789743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lopithecus/pseuds/Lopithecus
Summary: Eddie asks Buck to become Christopher’s guardian if he were to die
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Comments: 26
Kudos: 421





	The Family We Made

**Author's Note:**

> Eddie is a tad bit dense at first when it comes to how Buck reacted when he got buried. This takes place almost immediately after 3x15: Eddie Begins. Please enjoy!

Eddie watches it on the news later once he’s released from the hospital. He watches as he descends the hole, watches as the team scrambles to figure out how to get him out after he’s cut the line, watches as the kid is brought to the surface by Chimney, and watches as the crane comes tumbling down in shaky camera movements because of the news station people being startled. Then he watches as Buck absolutely loses his mind and stumbles to where the hole once was and starts digging with his hands, panic strewn on his face. Eddie watches, fascinated, as Bobby pulls Buck back and, God, watches as Buck _sobs_ in Bobby’s lap.

Eddie plays that one scene over and over again on his phone, not being able to look away. No one told him that Buck had reacted that way and Eddie isn’t exactly sure what it means. He hadn’t seen any of the others try and frantically dig him out. Instead, everyone else was keeping calm, professional. All but Buck.

“Daddy?” Eddie jumps slightly, looking up from his phone. He had it on mute but he still hadn’t heard his son enter the kitchen. “The food is burning.”

“Shit!” Eddie drops his phone onto the counter and turns quickly to the stove, opening it and waving away the smoke. He prays the smoke alarm won’t go off and grabs an oven mitt, pulling the now burnt ham out of the oven. He can hear Christopher laughing at him behind his back. With a small sigh, he deposits the pan in the sink, deciding to deal with it later, and turns to his son. “How about pizza tonight?”

“Yeah!” Christopher whoops enthusiastically.

Once the pizza arrives and the two of them are sat at the table, Eddie watches his son, listening to him tell him about what he and Buck had gotten up to while Eddie was in the hospital. They apparently had gone to the park and Buck had pushed Christopher on the swings for literal hours until Buck dramatically complained about his arms hurting. Christopher then roped Buck into agreeing to push him on the mary-go-round and then they went out for ice cream. Seeing the huge smile on his son’s face as he retells his story, makes Eddie smile fondly.

Christopher really loves Buck and Eddie isn’t insecure enough to not admit that Christopher might love Buck almost as much as he loves Eddie. It makes Eddie’s heart feel warm and full but what makes the feeling grow inside him to the point in which Eddie feels like his chest is about to burst with emotions, is the fact that apparently Buck loves Christopher as well. Just the way Christopher talks about everything that Buck has done for him proves that but if there was any doubt at all — there wasn’t, of course — the video from the news station would have blown them away completely.

Buck was so distraught in that video and willing to dig for Eddie with his bare hands. Buck was willing to get him back, risking his own life, just to save Eddie and get him back to Christopher. He knew Eddie couldn’t leave behind his son, that Eddie needs to be here for Christopher and that, to Eddie, proves that Buck loves his son just as much as Eddie does.

It warms Eddie’s heart just with the thought of it, that someone else out there cares about Christopher just as much as he does. But it also makes a cold chill run down his spine because it makes him think. What if something were to happen to Eddie? What if he had died down there? What would happen then? What would happen to Christopher?

That’s why, the next day, Eddie finds himself sitting down with Buck up at the dining table. Buck is on the end, where Bobby usually sits and Eddie sits down on Buck’s right, angling his body towards the younger man. Hen and Chimney are sat on the couch, deep in concentration as they both play a videogame. Bobby is currently in the kitchen, cooking breakfast for everyone, humming some tune that he probably heard on the radio that morning.

Buck is smiling and it makes Eddie’s chest seize up with an emotion he doesn’t know. It makes him smile back, laugh at something Buck casually blurts out, and look away briefly before making eye contact with his best friend again. The same best friend that freaked out when Eddie had been trapped. Eddie shifts in his seat, taking a deep breath, and Buck looks at him with curiosity shining in his eyes.

“Listen, Buck, I’ve been thinking ever since the well incident.” Buck’s smile immediately disappears and his eyes turn down to the table. He cups his hands together where they rest and Eddie is so close to him, he can feel the moment Buck starts bouncing his leg. “It’s nothing bad,” Eddie reassures but it doesn’t seem to calm the man in front of him. “I was just thinking about Christopher and what would have happened to him if I had…” Eddie swallows thickly. “If I had died.”

Buck’s eyes meet his again and there’s a sadness in them that Eddie wants to get rid of. He doesn’t say anything which is surprising to Eddie. Usually, Buck always has something to say. “Usually, in these cases, without his mother now, he would probably go to my parents back in El Paso.” Eddie licks his lips, wills himself to continue. “I don’t think that is a good fit for him.” Buck’s eyebrows are furrowed in confusion now, all attention given to what Eddie is saying. “That’s why I’ve given it some thought and, if you’re willing, I would like to name you as the person who would get custody and guardianship over him.”

Eddie can practically _hear_ the stillness in the room. Bobby is staring at them, food forgotten, and the videogame in the background is paused as Hen and Chimney shift to look at them. Buck’s face has gone slack, mouth open in shock, and a red tint starting to form on his cheeks from all the attention. Eddie almost laughs at Buck’s embarrassment because Buck usually craves attention like no other, and he might have done just that if he wasn’t feeling uncomfortable himself with all the eyes on them.

Eddie clears his throat because it’s obvious Buck isn’t going to say anything. “I know that it would be a big responsibility and I’ll understand if you say no but the more I think about it, Buck, you’re the perfect person for the job. Christopher loves you and you love him. You’re great with him, you and I have similar values so I know,” he licks his lips again, knowing he’s word vomiting now due to how uncomfortable he’s feeling. “I know you would raise him right and I know I can trust you with him. I’ve already told you once Buck. I don’t trust anyone else more than I trust you with Christopher. The way you are with him and how frantic you were when trying to dig me out-”

Buck reels back as if he’d been burned and it takes Eddie aback, cutting off his rambling. “You know about that?”

“Y-yeah, I saw it on the news.”

Buck looks like he’s going to be sick and Eddie can do nothing but watch as Buck gets up and walks away, disappearing down the stairs. Eddie looks to one team member to the next, settling on Bobby. “Did I say something wrong?”

Bobby turns the stove off, eggs long forgotten about now, and sighs as he approaches. “We were all worried about you, Eddie.”

Hen appears across from him, sitting down in the opposite chair. “It hit Buck pretty hard. Harder than the rest of us. He wouldn’t even entertain the idea that you might have died down there.”

“Yeah,” Eddie says. “Because he knew I had to get back to Christopher.”

“We all knew that, Eddie,” Bobby says, taking the seat Buck had been in moments before.

“I think it’s a little more than that when it comes to Buck,” Hen says gently.

“Look, I like to give Buck crap all the time about the things he does and his feelings,” Chimney comments, walking over to join them. “But the kid really cares about you, Eddie.”

Eddie looks from Bobby to Hen to Chimney and back again, his brain trying to understand what the three are insinuating. “Wait, are you trying to tell me what I think you’re trying to tell me?” No one answers him but Hen has this sympathetic look on her face that tells Eddie everything. “No. No, Buck doesn’t… he doesn’t love me. He loves Christopher and that’s why…” Eddie trails off, Bobby’s words coming back to mind that they all knew he had Christopher to get back to. But none of them acted the way Buck did. None of them completely threw caution out the window and started digging for Eddie with the bare hands, tears streaking down their faces. None of them broke down sobbing, barely able to contain themselves because they thought he was dead. None of them went off the rails as Buck did.

“Shit,” he swears quietly, getting up from his seat and heading down the stairs to try and find Buck. It doesn’t take him long. Buck is sat on one of the benches in the locker room, facing the lockers. He doesn’t react when Eddie comes to the door, leaning on the frame. “You okay?”

Buck jumps slightly and a hand comes up to wipe at his face. When he turns to look at Eddie, his eyes are red and puffy from crying. “M’fine.”

Eddie smiles at him sadly and walks up to him, straddling the bench next to Buck. “Is this because I asked you to take care of Christopher if I was gone or is it the fact that I would be gone that is upsetting you?”

Buck shrugs, looking away and then back. “Both?”

“Both?” Eddie asks and decides to go with the less heavy question first. “Do you not want to take care of him?”

“No!” Buck says quickly, hands coming up to punctuate the statement. “I would love to, you know that.”

“I do and that’s why I asked. I have to admit,” Eddie says. “I wasn’t expecting this reaction. Excitement and joy and hyperactivity, yeah, but not…” Eddie gestures towards Buck who snorts a wet sounding laugh, hand coming up to rub at his eyes again where more tears have gathered. “Why does it upset you then?”

“I’m not,” he pauses to think then, “I’m not upset as in sad about that. I am overjoyed, Eddie, really I am and-and I’m honored that you would want him to be with me and my answer is yes, you can put me down as who would get him but…” he trails off, biting his bottom lip. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, is that these tears… me crying is kind of combination of happiness and sadness.” Buck shakes his head and sighs. “I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Is it because you would be upset because I died?” Eddie asks and this is the part of the conversation he doesn’t know if he can have. Is he ready to face the feelings that Buck might have for him? Is he ready to face the feelings he might have for Buck? Eddie wonders if he even has a choice in the matter. It doesn’t really seem like it.

Buck shrugs again. “When you were down there, in the well, trapped and everyone thought you were dead I… I couldn’t even fathom it, Eddie. It felt like… like my whole world had just gotten ripped away from me.” Eddie nods when it looks like Buck is going to stop, encouraging him and letting him know that he is listening. Eddie’s heart is beating frantically in his chest and his palms have started to sweat. Buck swallows audibly. “I didn’t know what I would do without you. I didn’t know what I would tell Christopher, how to tell him, what would happen to him. I didn’t know how Christopher and I were going to go on without you. I felt like…”

“Like you were dying,” Eddie finishes for him when Buck stops, tears rolling down the younger man’s face. Eddie reaches up, without thinking, and rubs them away with his thumbs. “Buck, I know you would have found a way. You would have found a way to tell Christopher, you would have found a way to move on and keep living. And if I put you in my will to have Christopher, then you don’t have to worry about what’s going to happen to him.”

Buck rolls his eyes, pulls away from Eddie’s hand that was still cupping his cheek. “You don’t get it, Eddie, I-”

“No, I get it,” Eddie cuts him off. “I would probably react the same way if it were you down there. Including the parts about Christopher because that kid loves you like you wouldn’t believe. He would be devasted if anything happened to you. Just like if anything happened to me.” Buck sniffles. “And I really do get what you’re trying to say Buck and me telling you this, I don’t know if it’s coming across the same, but it is.” Eddie shrugs. “I’m just… not ready to say the actual words or probably hear them but I do-”

Buck stops him talking by grabbing both of Eddie’s cheeks and kissing him. It’s pretty chaste and Buck’s lips are wet with tears and snot and Eddie should be grossed out, he really, really should be, but he can’t bring it in himself to pull away. Instead, he grabs a hold of Buck’s neck and holds him there, kissing back. Eventually, they do have to pull away and when they do, Buck is looking at him with so much emotion that Eddie pulls him into a comforting hug.

Buck lowers his face down to Eddie’s shoulder and before he knows it, his shirt is getting wet from Buck’s tears. Buck’s shoulders shake as he cries silently and Eddie rubs a hand up and down his back soothingly. He lets Buck cry and release all the emotions he must have been bottling up since the well accident and he holds him close, speaking softly in Spanish to him to try and calm him. It seems to work for the most part and Buck gradually pushes away from him, one hand rubbing his wet eyes vigorously.

Buck eyes Eddie’s shirt. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be.” Eddie stands and gives Buck a smile. “I’m just glad we got that settled.”

Buck stands as well, reaching into his locker to grab a tissue and blows his nose. “Me too and, Eddie, thank you for trusting me with Christopher. It means everything.”

Eddie pats Buck on the back. “I wouldn’t trust him with anyone else.” The smile that lights up Buck’s face is worth every word Eddie just spoke. “Come on. I’m sure Bobby’s finished making breakfast by now and you know how cruel Chimney can get with eating all the food on us.”

Buck laughs as he follows Eddie out of the locker room and up the stairs where everyone is waiting for them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you liked it. :)
> 
> [Tumblr](https://angelcamael.tumblr.com/)   
>  [Fanfiction Tumblr](https://lopithecusfanfiction.tumblr.com/)


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